Waiting with hope

One of the things that blesses me most about the Catholic faith is the tradition of our liturgical seasons. Each year there is a rhythm to our liturgies that reminds us to focus on the various realities we face throughout our pilgrim journey. We are reminded of need for penitence and mercy, we are exhorted to rejoice, we celebrate Christ’s birth, mourn his suffering and death, and marvel at the victory of his resurrection. And, during one of my favorite liturgical seasons, Advent, we learn to wait with joyful anticipation, with expectant hope.

Waiting is not always easy for me. In fact, it is often a source of weariness rather than of hope. I have commented that one of the reasons I love Advent so much is because the whole Church is doing what I do every day: waiting. I say this in a sort of, “misery loves company” way but there is sincerity in the statement as well. It is good to not wait on my own, to not feel alone in my longing and struggling to hope. In my life waiting has been mostly bound up with my vocation. Being single and watching all my closest friends marry and raise families, watching my nieces and nephews grow up, asking when I will get married and provide them some cousins, coming to the Lord time and again and asking when he will work in this area of my life and being told simply to wait is often exhausting. I despair, I weep, I rise again and try to hope.

The people of Israel awaited a Messiah for hundreds of years while undergoing oppression from a variety of nations. And despite the prophets’ encouragement they did not always wait well. They turned to false gods, neglected the law and the needy, fell into misery, and then rose up and cried out and tried to hope again.

In the fullness of time God worked in a powerful way that surpassed their wildest hopes. He did not simply send a Messiah, he, himself came and saved his people, not only from slavery to the nations but from the ultimate enemies of sin and death. God fulfilled every promise and did so in a way that was well worth waiting for.

In the Advent season I am reminded, along with the rest of the Church, that it is this same God that is active in my life and who is asking me not only to wait, but to wait and to trust, to hope.  Hope never disappoints. This truth is often hard for me to believe, after all I have certainly experienced disappointment in my life. These disappointments were not a result of hoping but, rather, of failing to hope, or of misplacing my hope. True hope, hope in God, never disappoints because God is all loving and all powerful and is always working for our good. Hope in myself, in my plans, and efforts often disappoint because frequently I am foolish. I may think that I am working towards my good but my understanding of even my own good is clouded by fallen nature, my darkened intellect.

The Lord’s plan is always for my good and is always worth waiting for, no matter how long it might take to come to fruition. One of the things that makes this so challenging for me to believe is they mysterious nature of God’s action in my life. Most of the time I simply do not understand what he is about, why is he asking me to wait, why can’t I have the perceived good that I have been longing for, what is the purpose of this waiting. When I focus on these questions doubt and despair creep near. But there is a simple truth that can keep them at bay. God is good. I do not have to know what he is doing to know that it is good, because I know him.

Knowing God, being in relationship with him, spending time with him is at the heart of waiting with hope. Faith, hope, and love are intimately connected. Faith in God grows as we come to know him and his truths better, and love for God grows as we spend time with him and experience his goodness. In Advent we prepare to celebrate Emmanuel, a God who loves us so much that he became man and dwelt among us. He drew near to us when we could not draw near to him. A God that loves us that much will always seek our good and will let nothing stand in the way of gaining that good for us. When I know that God, I can trust that whatever he has for me, whenever he has it, is good. Therefore, I can wait with hope.